Truly Agreed, 2015

538.205. As used in sections 538.205 to 538.230, the
following terms shall mean: (1)
"Catastrophic personal injury", a physical injury resulting
in: (a) Quadriplegia defined
as the permanent loss of functional use of all four limbs; (b)
Paraplegia defined as the permanent loss of functional use of
two limbs; (c) Loss of two
or more limbs; (d) An injury
to the brain that results in permanent cognitive impairment resulting
in the permanent inability to make independent decisions or engage
in one or more of the following activities of daily living:
eating, dressing, bathing, toileting, transferring, and walking; (e)
An injury that causes irreversible failure of one or more major
organ systems; or (f) Vision
loss such that the patient's central visual acuity is no more
than twenty/two-hundred in the better eye with the best correction
or whose field of vision in the better eye is restricted to a
degree that its widest diameter subtends an angle no greater
than twenty degrees; (2)
"Economic damages", damages arising from pecuniary harm including,
without limitation, medical damages, and those damages arising
from lost wages and lost earning capacity;[(2)](3) "Equitable share", the share of a person or entity
in an obligation that is the same percentage of the total obligation
as the person's or entity's allocated share of the total fault,
as found by the trier of fact;[(3)](4) "Future damages", damages that the trier of fact finds
will accrue after the damages findings are made;[(4)](5) "Health care provider", any physician, hospital, health
maintenance organization, ambulatory surgical center, long-term
care facility including those licensed under chapter 198, dentist,
registered or licensed practical nurse, optometrist, podiatrist,
pharmacist, chiropractor, professional physical therapist, psychologist,
physician-in-training, and any other person or entity that provides
health care services under the authority of a license or certificate;[(5)](6) "Health care services", any services that a health
care provider renders to a patient in the ordinary course of
the health care provider's profession or, if the health care
provider is an institution, in the ordinary course of furthering
the purposes for which the institution is organized. Professional
services shall include, but are not limited to, transfer to a
patient of goods or services incidental or pursuant to the practice
of the health care provider's profession or in furtherance of
the purposes for which an institutional health care provider
is organized;[(6)](7) "Medical damages", damages arising from reasonable
expenses for necessary drugs, therapy, and medical, surgical,
nursing, x-ray, dental, custodial and other health and rehabilitative
services;[(7)](8) "Noneconomic damages", damages arising from nonpecuniary
harm including, without limitation, pain, suffering, mental anguish,
inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of capacity
to enjoy life, and loss of consortium but shall not include punitive
damages;[(8)](9) "Past damages", damages that have accrued when the
damages findings are made;[(9)](10) "Physician employee", any person or entity who works
for hospitals for a salary or under contract and who is covered
by a policy of insurance or self-insurance by a hospital for
acts performed at the direction or under control of the hospital;[(10)](11) "Punitive damages", damages intended to punish or
deter willful, wanton or malicious misconduct, including exemplary
damages and damages for aggravating circumstances;[(11)](12) "Self-insurance", a formal or informal plan of self-insurance
or no insurance of any kind.